On one side, we see those traditions that promote all these Aquarian sort of new age ideas about drug use and sexuality, shamanism, and all the elements that are mixed up in it. All of this has been very popular since the sixties.
Contrary to that side, we see the Meditation tradition that rejects all intoxicants. In every genuine Meditation tradition, there is a fundamental precept that the practitioners will not take intoxicants of any kind. Which traditions? Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, just to name a few. In all of those traditions, this is one of the first vows that even a lay person must take: to take no intoxicants, no alcohol, no drugs, etc. Why?
Observe this difference. Both sides claim to reach the same place. Both claim that by following their paths you will receive visions, receive knowledge, and receive spiritual development. Both claim the same thing! How do we know which is true?
Naturally, most people think, âThe drugs sound cooler, faster, and more fun. I am going to do that.â That is the way of thinking of the vast majority of people. They do not investigate these things, even if it is without spiritual interest. They want to have those visions and those experiences, those sensations to feel good and feel ecstatic. Most people go that way. That is an easy path, and is very easy to find and enter. Yet, who ever said that becoming an angel or a Buddha was easy?
Do we ever find an example of a drunkard Saint or a drug-addict Buddha? Not even a single one! Instead, all of them rejected intoxicants. Yet, if we study the lives of the Saints, the Buddhas, the Master, every single one of them was a master of Meditation.
Can we find an example of a drunkard demon? Yes, many. Can we find an example of a drug-addict demon? Â Yes, many. What about a demon who is a master of Meditation? Doubtful! Why? Because mastery of Meditation is mastery of Consciousness. A demon is bottled in conditioned Consciousness, trapped in his karma. A real master of Meditation is also a master of karma, and is thus capable of entering all of the levels of existence at will. A demon is trapped in the lower worlds.
